The Netherlands school Sweden in Amsterdam
The Netherlands hit four goals past Sweden in the sides' Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday, with the final score at 4–1.
Bert van Marwijk's team are still unbeaten at the Amsterdam Arena after two braces from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay saw them overcome Erik Hamren's men, for whom Andreas Granqvist pulled a goal back in the second half.
Wesley Sneijder came from an offside position to meet a pass from the defence in the fourth minute, and his first-time ball to van der Vaart opened up the Swedish defence expertly.
The Tottenham midfielder squared the ball to Huntelaar, who made no mistake alone with Andreas Isaksson, tucking the ball home at the near post.
Sneijder came close twice before Anders Svensson picked up the ball 35 yards from the Dutch goal, advanced and hit a speculative with 17 minutes played. His effort flew wide of Maarten Stekelenburg's post.
Sweden were gifted a golden opportunity in the 23rd minute minute, when Ola Toivonen raced onto Pomtus Wernbloom's through ball on the left side. Stekelenburg was fast to come out of his goal, forcing the Swede to finish early with a lob that sailed wide
of the right post.
Behrang Safari made a crucial mistake with 36 minutes gone, as his throw-in ended up at Sneijder's feet. The Inter Milan playmaker sent Afellay racing towards the Swedish goal, and the striker hit a low shot into the right corner.
The Dutch sit back and break
After the break, Sweden attempted to pressure the Dutch team high in the field, but their attempts to force mistakes from their opponents were futile against a technically superior side whose forte has long been keeping possession.
And when it mattered, the Dutch were able to turn defence into attack in the blink of an eye. Ten minutes into the half, Afellay went around Mikael Lustig on the left wing, making himself enough room to cross for Huntelaar, who headed home in the box.
Three minutes later, Sweden were handed another lesson in counter-attacking as Sneijder fed Huntelaar on the left wing. The Schalke 04 striker returned the service he had just received to Afellay, who took a simple touch to control before blasting a shot
into the roof of the net at the far post.
Granqvist, who had been partly at fault when the Netherlands took the lead, snuck into the penalty box to hit a strong volley into the net from Sebastian Larsson's 71st-minute free kick.
On 84 minutes, the unusually quiet Zlatan Ibrahimovic found an opening 30 yards from the Dutch goal, but his rocket of a shot was parried to a corner by Stekelenburg. In the dying stages, the AC Milan striker's long-range efforts were Sweden's only hope
against the compact Dutch defence.
The resounding victory leaves van Marwijk's team top of Group E with 12 points from four straight victories. Sweden are three points behind ahead of the next international break in March.
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